Water and food fasting during labour impact on delivery experience.

 

Objective :

We conducted this study to evaluate labour experience in relation to the restrictive or permissive attitude of the health care team.

Design :

This was a prospective cross-sectional and descriptive study.

Methods:

This study was conducted in 3 departments of gynaecology and obstetrics in Tunis, over a period of two months (February- March 2022). We included 120 women who gave birth at a term greater than or equal to 37 SA, of a single foetus in cephalic presentation, with no complication during the pregnancy and in the immediate post-partum period.

Results:

Most women were aged between 25 and 30 years old, 40% of them were 2^nd parous. Most of the interviewed women (72.5%) reported feeling thirsty during labour, and this sensation was intense to intolerable in 70.8% of cases. On the other hand, only 17.5% of the women felt hungry during labour and this feeling was mostly minimal (60.3%.) Furthermore, we noticed that the experience of digestive signs during labour was not influenced by drinking or eating in the delivery room.

These results show that fasting in delivery room does not effectively prevent vomiting and nausea during labour. Given the choice, the majority of women (69.2%) would have chosen to drink during labour. However, only 2.5% would have opted for an oral food intake during labour.

Regarding communication about fasting in the delivery room, the majority of parturients (73.3%) stated that the health staff had not explained the value of fasting in the delivery room.

Conclusion:

In Tunisia, women who give birth are still required not to eat or drink. However, childbirth is a natural act that requires energy to manage contractions, to hold on for the duration and to have the energy to push.